Death In Bagheria (A Serafina Florio Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page A

neighbor.” A moment of pure friendship, Serafina thought, fishing in her pocket for a linen. They’d been through so much together, she and Rosa. As she blotted her face, Serafina told her friend about the visit with Genoveffa and her commission to find her mother’s killer.
    “Some nerve. The baroness has been dead for years, and she snags you into her fancy scheme. And you’re worse—why do you waste your time with her whims? You’ve got hungry mouths to feed, a son at university. Do you really have time to go chasing after chimeras?”
    “Loffredo thinks the baroness may well have been poisoned, judging from Genoveffa’s description of her mother’s symptoms. Besides, I feel sorry for her. She has no one.”
    “She has a fortune and a family, and they’re aristocrats. If she’d just stop playing saint and go back to her family, she’d have her pick of thirty-room palaces scattered all over the province. So her fiancé was killed in some accident, so what? It happens. Time to get another. She could be surrounded by dukes and counts and such, salivating to get into her—”
    “Don’t say it!”
    “My heart thumps just thinking about all of them lined up. But no, not Genoveffa: she mopes about in some convent.”
    “She’s the Duomo’s sacristan.”
    “Oh, yes, well, fancy that—there’s a rich treasure for you. And when was the last time you saw a nun sacristan? Haughty creature, Genoveffa. Stole someone’s job, I tell you, but that’s a story for another day.”
    “How do you know all this?”
    “I didn’t run a brothel for nothing. Oh, yes, I made a good living. Tessa’s secure.” She paused for breath. “What am I saying—Tessa’s great-grandchildren will have untold wealth. More important, I know everything about everyone. How do you think I survived? Before you waste more time, go back to Genoveffa. Tell her you work for the state, and when you’re not birthing babies, you’re snooping around dead bodies. Tell her you have seven children and you’re caring for two orphans besides. Tell her your fortune’s dwindling and you don’t have time to chase after a nun’s wild imaginings. What’s that you’re waving in my face?”
    “Open it,” Serafin a said. “I promised you that if you gave up your business and moved next door, we’d go questing together.”
    Painted nails clutched both sides of the cheque.
    The maid entered.
    “My friend needs sweets,” Rosa said, fanning herself with the retainer. “Perhaps a crumb for me. Better yet, tell cook to surprise us with a pot of strong coffee and something large and sweet and oozing sauce.”
    The maid shrugged and withdrew.
    Rosa gaped a moment longer at the note. “Typical. This retainer will feed your family for three years and you neglect to tell me until now. You have no mind for business.”
    “But that’s not why I took the case. I believe Genoveffa. I want to help her.”
    “Rubbish, we’ve got to form a plan, catch the killer. Pack your bag. We leave for Bagheria.” Rosa patted black curls. “The cheque’s a good start, and there will be more for you when we solve the case. Come to that, I wonder how much?” A sly look came over Rosa’s face. “Let me guess—you didn’t discuss the final fee, did you?”
    “Why should I?” Serafina detailed her conversation with Genoveffa, and for once, the madam did not interrupt. “The poor woman,” Serafina said. “All that pent-up grief! And such an enigma: sorrowing for her mother, to be sure, but angry, also, and not opening the door to all her secrets.”
    “Why should she? After all, she’s a woman. We all have our favorite secrets, the ones we’re entitled to keep. And speaking of keeping, what will we do about the baroness’s journal?”
    “The carabinieri are searching for it, and Genoveffa thought there’d be more volumes lying about the villa. She said her mother was always writing in one.” Serafina told her about meeting with Colonna.
    “That clown,